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SPIRIT WORLD: THE STORY OF THE MI’KMAQ

Spirit World: The Story of the Mi’kmaq is a three part television mini-series about the history of the Mi’kmaq First Nation. It is a history told from a Mi’kmaq perspective, and covers a broad swath of time from the arrival of the first Europeans to North America, right up to religious complicity in the residential school system and the conflict surrounding contemporary Mi’kmaq fishing rights.

The first program in the Spirit World series, entitled "The Cross and the Eagle Feather", provides a glimpse at the Mi’kmaq way of life thousands of years ago, and shows the manner in which the Mi’kmaq embraced the Roman Catholic Church with the Baptism of Grand Chief Membertou in 1610. The mini-series also shows how the Mi’kmaq befriended the Acadians and helped them with the wilderness survival during their first few years in North America. It outlines the unique relationship of co-operation, friendship, and mutual respect which developed between Mi’kmaq and the Acadians, and shows how these early bonds are still an important part in the collective memory of the Mi’kmaq and the modern day Acadians.

The arrival of the English resulted in unspeakable tragedy for the Mi’kmaq. The second program in the mini-series, entitled "Blankets of Death" shows how the utter lack of respect for Mi’kmaq ways by the British resulted in unending conflict, hardship, disease, starvation, and death for the Mi’kmaq. Program two describes the ten Guinea bounty placed on the head of every Mi’kmaq man, woman, and child by Governor Edward Cornwallis. It describes how the British gave out blankets laced with the smallpox virus to the Mi’kmaq, it describes how Mi’kmaq lands were overrun by waves of English pioneers, and it describes the strength, dignity, and tenacity of the Mi’kmaq in the face of unending hardships imposed upon them by the English and later by the successors to the English - the Government of Canada.

The third program, entitled "Sacred Promises, Instruments of Greed" deals primarily with the treaties which the Mi’kmaq have signed over the years, from the Concordat with the Vatican in 1610 to the final treaty with the British in 1790. It shows how the Mi’kmaq have kept the promises contained in the treaties, kept them to the very letter, while the Catholic Church, the British, and the Government of Canada have twisted the intent and meaning of the treaties for their own convenience and their own greed.

Spirit World has unavoidably dealt with some very unfortunate and tragic aspects of Mi’kmaq history, but it has done so out of respect for the seemingly invincible quality of Mi’kmaq dignity and Mi’kmaq tenacity. Spirit World ultimately is a tribute to the richness, strength, and beauty of Mi’kmaq culture, traditions, and spirituality.